


The Witch And The Canine Curse

by Rogue of Heart (Akumeoi)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: (the rosemary), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Animal Transformation, Crushes, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Magic, Other, Witch Curses, Witches, jade thinks rose and kanaya are super cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:14:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28017561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akumeoi/pseuds/Rogue%20of%20Heart
Summary: During a routine familiar summoning, Jade accidentally turns herself into a dog - and can't undo the spell. She goes to the house of Rose and Kanaya, a cute and capable witch couple, in the hopes they can help her. Can Jade overcome the challenges of her canine form in order to get Rose and Kanaya's help and turn back into a human?
Relationships: Jade Harley & Rose Lalonde & Kanaya Maryam, Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam
Comments: 3
Kudos: 5





	The Witch And The Canine Curse

**Author's Note:**

> For Alviesaur. I was your gifter for this year's Homestuck Secret Santa. Happy holidays! I've never written an OT3 before, so I decided to go for Rosemary but with pining!Jade.
> 
> Septiportem is my fake Latin name for "Seven Gates" because "Skaiaville" was too obvious.  
> ++[I used a purple Victorian house as a reference for Rose and Kanaya's house.](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6e/15/c0/6e15c0c35e67dbd5d9f3ea2d1b36863d.jpg)  
> (A tweaked visual description of the house is given in the fic.)
> 
> Funnily enough, I wrote a witch AU fic starring Jade for last year's Homestuck Secret Santa, too. I titled this fic in a similar fashion so the two could be a pair.

Jade marched determinedly through the streets of Septiportum, refusing to give up even as her paws went out from under her and she had to stagger to regain her balance. Having four feet was _hard_. Being a dog was _weird_ , nothing like how she’d imagined. It was difficult to navigate when she was now red-green colour-blind and didn’t have a scent map in her head to help her take advantage of her newly sharpened nose.

She knew she must look like a dog that was a. lost and b. had never learnt how to use its legs, and that’s because she was both. This morning she’d decided to summon her familiar, a mystical dog spirit named Bec, to help her with some higher level potions and spell commissions. But as she’d been chanting the words to the spell while standing in the middle of her carefully-drawn summoning sigil, she had been interrupted by a creeping, chilling sensation that had rooted her to the spot with fear. Then, she’d realised that it was her row-house neighbours, Aradia and Sollux, communing with the dead again.

After she had figured out what was going on, Jade had attempted to pick up the spell from where she’d left off, even though she’d still had a crippling sensation prickling down her back. But it had been too late. The damage to the spell had been done. At the conclusion of the chant, Jade had expected to see a fluffy, magical white dog materialise in the sigil opposite her. But instead, she’d felt herself growing hot as a coat of white fur sprang from her skin, and her point of view had become discoloured and distorted as she shrank down and transformed into a Berger Blanc dog.

At first, Jade had tried to undo the spell herself. The problem was, she couldn’t speak. She could only bark, so there was no way she could say an incantation. Her only option had been potions and herbs, and though she’d smashed what seemed like half of her potion jars open (her potions room was a mess now, oh noooooo) she hadn’t made any progress. Her paws were a little sticky and there were suspicious colourful streaks in her fur now, though.

So now she was taking option two, which was to seek out another witch who had the chops to take the spell off _for_ her. That was why she was staggering around the streets in such an ungainly fashion.

The spring sun beat down, warming but fortunately not overheating Jade’s new fur coat. Her paws were sturdy enough to withstand the endless concrete sidewalks as she passed by pleasant little houses with leafy gardens and colourful shutters. That her stomach had started to growl a little was her one minor complaint.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of searching (but was really more like one hour, tops) Jade finally stumbled upon her destination: a very distinctive house with a yard surrounded by a low stone wall. Had Jade been able to see in full colour, she would have seen that the house was light purple but with black, grey, and darker purple trim which gave it a mixed classic goth/pastel goth feel. It was also adorned with cut-outs and tasteful embellishments in the shape of yellow suns, white vortexes, and some stars and moons for good measure.

Beside the front gate was a sign which read:

Rose Lalonde & Kanaya Maryam, Master Witches  
Business hours: 2PM – Midnight; until 4PM in case of emergency.  
Specialties: soothsaying & prophecy, wordsmithing, substance recovery,  
amphibian husbandry, garments & materials, etc.

Jade let out a doggy sigh of relief when she read the sign. Firstly, because she could still read even as a dog. And secondly, because she was _here_.

Kanaya Maryam and Rose Lalonde were very well thought of witches, their “master” designation fitting. (Jade had only just ascended from Journeyman to Master herself a few months ago.) On top of being powerful witches, the two of them were also an adorable couple. Aww! Jade thought it was so sweet that they were able to run a family business together.

Although there were a few other witches in the town who provided services to the public, Rose and Kanaya were the best. Jade was hoping that Rose’s divination abilities would help them figure out that she was actually a human; and although dogs weren’t amphibians, maybe Kanaya had some general knowledge of animal spells.

But first, Jade had to figure out how to actually get into their yard, since there was a wall and a gate and all. The wall would’ve gone up to her stomach if she were still a human, but that was quite high for a dog of her size.

Jade looked around for something she could put against wall so she could stand on it to climb over. She contemplated a few flower pots beside people’s front doors, but feared they would just break if she tried to drag them over. There were a few lawn ornaments which looked monumentally unhelpful, mailboxes that were a good size but couldn’t possibly be unmounted by a dog, and birdhouses which had the same issue. Why couldn’t someone have a nice, helpful cardboard box delivered to their front step? Jade let out a whine of frustration, pacing back and forth in front of Rose and Jade’s house with her tail between her legs.

Just as she was contemplating whether or not she could get over the fence simply by jumping (very risky, quite likely to result in injury, but potentially worth trying before she went nuts over this situation), she saw two figures approaching, walking down the pavement arm-in-arm.

One of the two women was tall and slim, with short, neatly styled black hair and jade green lipstick. The other was shorter and curvier but no less elegant, with a bob of blonde hair and what Jade knew was an iconic headband. Today’s had a little yellow sun on it, just like the ones decorating the house. Both of them were wearing mostly back, including the shorter one’s lipstick, though the taller one also wore a striking red skirt which sadly looked grey to Jade’s canine eyes.

 _Thank goodness_ , Jade thought. Jade and Kanaya were there!

As they came closer, she saw that both of them were wearing amulets around their necks, clear indications of their magical profession. Both were carrying practical bags, Rose’s a messenger bag and Kanaya’s a refined tote. They were also both very pretty, Jade had to admit. Probably way out of her league... 

Jade barked once, to get their attention. She sat politely, her tail wagging. 

When they arrived, Kanaya said, “Rose, dear, would you happen to know whose dog that is?”

Rose paused, considering Jade, who would’ve sat up on her hind legs and begged for attention if she thought she had the balance for it. Instead, she gave a soft yip.

“Hmm. No idea,” Rose said. “I suppose it resembles the familiar of that witch who lives over by the park. Jade Harley, the plant witch.”

Jade’s ears pricked up when she heard her name and she wagged her tail harder.

“The one with the adorable teeth?” Kanaya asked. If Jade hadn’t been a dog, she would’ve blushed a little.

“Oh yes,” Rose agreed, nodding.

“I suppose you’re right, but why would it be here?” Kanaya said, perplexity crossing her elegant features. “It must belong to someone in the neighbourhood, don’t you think?”

“It’s an omen of calamity,” Rose said with a straight face.

“Oh, yes, of course. The dreaded fluffy white dog. Silly me. I can’t believe I didn’t recognise it.”

“It’s been nice knowing you. We’ll probably both be dead by tomorrow, but I hope to see you in the afterlife, dear Kanaya.”

The two exchanged a private glance full of suppressed amusement. Then, they laughed. Jade couldn’t help thinking how adorable they were.

“And who do you suppose this dreaded harbinger belongs to?” Kanaya asked, fondness for Rose creeping into her voice.

“It does seem to be waiting for someone,” Rose observed.

“Well, let’s not disturb it, then,” Kanaya said, unlatching the gate. Jade would’ve face-palmed if she still had hands. Seeing that Kanaya and Rose had somehow managed to completely miss the fact that it was _them_ she was waiting for, Jade began barking as insistently as she could, crowding up against their heels to try and get into their garden.

“Bad dog!” Rose scolded, pushing her away. But Jade was determined, continuing to bark and gently tug on Kanaya’s skirt with her mouth. The strange taste and texture of fabric did not deter her. When Kanaya turned in dismay to stop her, Jade shot past her and into the two witches’ yard. There, she planted her doggy butt on the path directly in front of the door, barked once, and was quiet again.

“Blast,” Kanaya said, checking over her skirt for holes. Jade was glad to see she hadn’t accidentally wrecked Kanaya’s nice skirt. Meanwhile, Rose was giving Jade a considering look.

“It seems we have a problem. It may have been us it was waiting for,” Rose said, still looking directly at Jade, who nodded her head. Rose’s eyebrows shot up.

“Do you suppose it’s magical?” Kanaya asked, still preoccupied with her skirt.

“It’s something, alright,” Rose said, folding her arms. “I’ll do some divination on it. Check its aura for any fateful information. If you’re just overly friendly, you’re in big trouble, dog,” she added to Jade, who did her best to make her eyes look innocent and sorrowful. But behind her back, her tail wagged a little. If Rose did a divination on her, surely she would see that Jade was actually a human.

“What were you saying about an omen, earlier?” Kanaya teased as she smoothed her skirt and went to sit on the two person swing seat installed on one side of the yard with black roses climbing its frame.

“Oh, yes, but I’ve changed my mind. It’s simply an omen of annoyance.”

Jade tossed her head, internally laughing as Kanaya smiled. Meanwhile, Rose removed a piece of black velvet from her messenger bag.

“Stay,” she said sternly to Jade (who nodded) as she laid the black velvet on the path in front of Jade. On top of it she placed a crystal ball that looked to be carved from cloudy white moonstone, in a special dish adorned with symbols and suns. Next she retrieved a pair of white wands from the wand pockets of her skirt.

Rose sat down cross-legged on the path, clearly not concerned that her black skirt could acquire stains. She waved her wands over the crystal ball, chanting a short phrase in a language that seemed to send strange whispers into Jade’s ears. Black Majyks, of course, very distinctive. Less disturbing and pervasive than the necromancy Aradia and Sollux practiced, but still slightly arresting. Jade shifted a little, but Kanaya didn’t react.

After she had finished chanting, Rose gazed into her crystal ball. The cloudy surface cleared to the purity of glass, and Jade could see magic crackling in white, steaming streams from the surface of Rose’s two wands. The colours of whatever Rose was watching in the ball reflected back on her face, giving her an aura of mystery and power.

Rose spoke to the crystal ball a few more times while waving her wands over it, most likely giving commands but possibly asking questions. After a few minutes, Rose ended the spell with another chant. It was only after the crystal ball had reverted to its soft, cloudy, inert state that Jade realised all her fur had been standing on end and she had become cold.

A little dazed, Jade listened as Rose said to Kanaya, “Well, the dog seems fine. There is some kind of spell on it, but whoever cast it must be completely incompetent. It looks like a “summon familiar” type of spell, but it’s not a familiar. It has no owner at all. I can only conclude that someone botched an attempt to catch it with magic and it ran away.”

Jade cringed a little at the harsh criticism, but at least Rose was wrong about what had happened...

“Is that of concern?” Kanaya asked, arching her eyebrow in a beautiful curve.

“I don’t think so,” Rose said, beginning to pack up her wands, crystal ball, and velvet cloth. “I doubt it’s having much effect on the dog. It doesn’t carry any portents, either.”

“Very well, I suppose it must be a stray. Let’s feed it. We can take it to a shelter tomorrow,” Kanaya said, standing fluidly.

Jade shook her head, hardly able to believe her doggy ears. Rose had divined that there was a spell on her, but wasn’t going to bother to investigate further? Argh! As Kanaya and Rose retreated into the house, Jade had to resist the urge to howl with frustration.

Kanaya and Rose were both very smart and capable witches, but clearly Jade had messed her spell up to the point where simple observation couldn’t untangle it. She didn’t blame them for not noticing she was a bespelled human, but now she would have to find a new tactic to get them to help her.

A few minutes later, Kanaya returned with a bowl of what smelled like leftover meat scraps, which she set in front of Jade. After giving the bowl a little sniff, Jade found her mouth absolutely watering. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast that morning, long, long ago.

Kanaya gave Jade an awkward pat, clearly trying to keep her skirt out of range of Jade’s teeth. “There, there,” she said to Jade, then went back inside.

As soon as she was alone, Jade devoured the meat scraps. Eating as a dog was also difficult, because her mouth was a completely different shape, but it was so worth it because this meat was _delicious_. She knew now why Bec would beg for steak whenever he was summoned. 

Once her hunger was sated, Jade started looking around the yard for tools she could use to try and communicate with Rose and Kanaya. Aside from the romantic bench swing, the yard was mostly filled with small trees, bushes, and plants. Clearly this was yard belonging to witches, because many of the plants were flowering out of season. To Jade’s amusement, there were also some witchy yard decorations, including a goth gnome hidden away under a bush.

Her eye fell on some sturdy-looking stakes that were being used to help plants and shrubs grow straighter. If she could get one out, it might be useful as a writing implement. Jade decided to wait until nightfall so that she could remove the stake without any interference. Even if Rose and Kanaya were still up, they probably wouldn’t notice her doing anything under cover of darkness.

And so, she lay down on the walk with her head on her paws and took a little nap in the afternoon sun. When she woke up, she sniffed around the yard just out of curiosity and for something to do. Soon, Rose came out to give her another bowl of meat, then take the empty bowls away. It was at that time that the sky finally started turning pink, then red, then grey. Jade paced around the yard in frustration, waiting.

Finally, finally the first stars winked open in the blackened sky. As soon as she noticed it was time, Jade dove into the plants to pull out the stake. And then, she set about destroying Rose and Kanaya’s lawn.

⁂

“Wrong for the second time, Rose. In fact, this dog is an omen of lawn destruction.”

“Dear me, I do seem to be losing my touch, don’t I? Soon I’ll be a shabby tarot reader at the side of the road with playing cards from different decks that have the arcana drawn on in pen.”

“No, darling, I’ll take care of you in the twilight senility of your magical craft.”

“And I’m so young, too.”

Jade’s ears pricked. There were voices right nearby. Rose and Kanaya were bantering about something. She knew she should get up and bark at them, but she was sooooooo tired...

Wait. Bark?

It all came back to her: she wasn’t a human in her comfy bed, she was a dog sleeping on a ripped up, slightly dewy lawn outside the house of two pretty, intimidatingly good witches who she had come to for help...

Jade’s eyes opened. Rose and Kanaya were standing right there, looking down on her and the mess she’d made.

 _Please_ , Jade thought, _Please understand this time._

“You know,” Kanaya said consideringly, tilting her head as she looked at the lawn. Jade’s heart started to beat faster, and her ears flicked back against her head as she waited to hear what Kanaya made of her handiwork.

“This does rather look like writing,” Kanaya finished, and Jade could’ve cheered. She sat up, making Rose glance at her and give her a stern look.

“I think it says ‘HELP’,” Kanaya said, sounding baffled.

“The dog is sitting on more of it,” Rose said. Obligingly, Jade stood and walked onto the path, tail wagging uncertainly.

“Oh, my,” Kanaya said as the rest of the message was revealed.

What Jade had attempted to write on the other side of the path was “JH (DOG)”. It was true that the parenthesis were more like straight lines and the O was rather thin and lopsided, but in the light of morning Jade had to say that she didn’t think she’d done a terrible job, considering all she’d had to hold the stake as she dug it into the lawn was her teeth. Its splintered remains littered the grass even now.

“JH? Jade Harley? That witch you mentioned yesterday?” Kanaya said to Rose.

Rose whipped a single white wand out of the wand-pocket in her black skirt. She approached Jade, who sat with barely contained eagerness. Rose tapped Jade on the head with her wand three times, speaking a command in her occult language. The wand glowed as it had yesterday, and then a ball of light shot out of the tip and hung in the air over Jade’s head, where it separated into a string of symbols that probably formed a word. Rose gave a final command and made a sharp motion with her wand, and the word vanished.

“Is it her?” Kanaya asked.

“I did a name reveal spell and the answer is yes. This dog is Jade Harley. And given the bizarre spell I saw on her yesterday, I doubt she can change back into a human by herself,” Rose said, sheathing her wand. “Is that true?” she asked Jade.

Jade could’ve teared up with relief at being directly addressed as herself, if only dogs’ tear ducts worked like that. Instead, she nodded frantically, behind wiggling as her tail tried to wag itself off of her body.

“Erm... I’m sorry we left you out here all night,” Kanaya said sheepishly. Jade just shook her head, because she didn’t mind as long as they could help her.

“I don’t think we can just take off the spell, since it’s such a convoluted mess. But we could nullify all magic currently attached to your person,” Rose said.

Jade nodded, giving her permission. She had a few small charms on herself such as good health and good luck, but those were easy enough to replace.

“You’re sure?”

Jade nodded again.

“Alright then,” Rose said. She opened the door to the house and ushered Jade in. She then led them to what was clearly a receiving room for clients. Like the outside, it was decorated in a mixed goth style, with a lot of black but with delicate silver chains and crystal beads, pastel bows and sigils, and a white lace tablecloth over the square-shaped consulting table. Of course, it was difficult for Jade to appreciate some of the finer details as she was of a height to really only appreciate the carved wooden table legs.

Rose went over to a chest of drawers at the side of the room and retrieved a folded piece of purple cloth from inside it, while Kanaya pushed the table back a little to create more space. Then, Rose and Kanaya unfolded the cloth and set it down over the floor. Jade saw that it had a beautifully complex sigil for spell nullification woven into it.

“Kanaya and I designed this and commissioned it from a weaver,” Rose commented to Jade. “We have a whole series of them. Sit on it, please.”

Nodding, Jade sat down in the centre of the woven sigil, feeling a bit bad that she’d be shedding on the nice cloth. Since it was for spell nullification, it couldn’t be cleaned with a spell, so she hoped it was machine washable.

Once Jade was settled, Kanaya and Rose stood side-by-side at the foot of the cloth. Rose retrieved her wands from her skirt, while Kanaya remained empty-handed.

Rose spoke several words of power to activate the sigil. White magic flared to life along its lines and curves, and Jade let out a yelp of surprise when she saw that her whole body was glowing, too. It felt a little tingly, but she didn’t move from her spot in the centre of the sigil.

Then, Kanaya started chanting a spell.

_Needles and thread, needles and thread_  
_Spell, give thyself unto my hand_

She held out her hand, and a tendril of white magic separated from the top of Jade’s head and landed in Kanaya’s palm. Kanaya passed the magic to Rose, continuing to chant:

_Tin needles, tin thread_  
_Spell, give thyself unto my hand_

_Aluminium needles, aluminium thread_  
_Spell, give thyself unto my hand_

_Copper needles, copper thread_  
_Spell, give thyself unto my hand_

Kanaya continued, steadily increasing the value of the metal in the rhyme as more and more magic poured from Jade and into her hands. As steadily as she received it, she passed it along to Rose, who was using her wands like knitting needles to knit it into a glowing white strip, whispering to it all the while.

Soon, Jade began to feel strange. The world shifted as she began to grow taller. The fur retracted back into her skin. By the time Kanaya had reached _gold needles, gold thread_ , Jade was looking down at a human form clad in a black dress, striped tights, and sparkly red shoes. Around her wrist was a colourful bracelet made of loops of coloured thread (her memory bracelet), as well as several other bits of charm and spell jewellery. Her thick, black hair brushed her lower back, and her trusty witch’s hat with the sparkly red band had reappeared on her head.

Jade was super excited, but she restrained herself until Kanaya reached platinum needles and thread and the final remnant of white spell light was pulled from her body and used by Rose to cast off the magical knitting.

The light on the sigil cloth vanished.

“That was a good bit of knitwork,” Kanaya said to Rose, who smiled.

“Yay!” Jade exclaimed clapping her hands together. “I’m me again!”

Rose grabbed an empty glass jar from the chest of drawers and shoved the light scarf into it. “Mind if we keep this specimen?”

“It’s all yours!” Jade was happy to agree. “And thank you so much for helping me. I was in a real pickle!”

“Certainly, but what happened?” Kanaya asked as Rose set the glass jar on top of the unit beside some candles.

“Err, well, it wasn’t incompetence, at least I hope not,” Jade said, making Rose shake her head with amusement, remembering her words from the day before. “I was summoning my familiar just fine until I started getting corpse-shivers from next door. I live next to two necromancers.”

“You mean Aradia Megido and Sollux Captor? They’re friends of ours,” Rose said appraisingly, pulling out a chair to sit down at the consultation table. Kanaya perched on the corner of the table itself, her long legs crossed one over the other.

“Yes, they’re really nice but their magic gives me the creeps,” Jade admitted. She thought it was great that Sollux and Aradia could give people closure by talking to their loved ones’ ghosts, retrieve occult information, and help catch murderers, but she sure did wish her home was not literally stuck to theirs.

“I can see how it could be... disarming,” Kanaya said with one eyebrow raised. Gosh, she sure was pretty.

“Yes, very disarming, but I’m all better now! Thank you again, and I’m so sorry about the lawn,” Jade said, twisting her hands together sheepishly.

Kanaya laughed and Rose smirked. “Yes, you’ve completely ruined our aesthetic. I doubt we’ll be respected by any of our neighbours. Who would trust a witch with such a horticultural disaster on their property? We may have to survive by eating our cats once all our clients abandon us due to this completely unrepairable situation.”

As Rose spoke, Kanaya nodded along. Jade just looked between them, torn between horror and the desire to burst into laughter.

“Um, well, that sounds pretty bad! But I could just fix it for you – I am a ‘plant witch’, after all?” she said, trying to play it straight.

“Oh, please do save us from ruination,” Kanaya said, indicating the direction of the front door with her hand.

The three of them went back out to the front lawn, and Jade retrieved her wand from the wand pocket of her skirt. Unlike Rose’s plain white batons, Jade’s had a small crystal star at the tip. With a flick of her wrist, the crystal activated, turning white like a tiny, contained sun.

“Ink: green,” Jade ordered the wand. The white turned into a green so bright as to appear irradiated.

Unlike Kanaya and Rose, who primarily used verbal control over their magic, Jade used visual control. As she moved her wand, it left a colourful glowing trace in the air. She drew the image of a beautiful, perfect lawn. With a flick of her wand, she sent it out over the grass. It flipped from horizontal to vertical and, directed by careful wand movements, sank down onto the lawn. Soon every single blade of grass was coated with twinkling green light, like dewdrops made out of green gems.

“Grow!” Jade commanded, turning her hands palm up and raising them upwards while still holding her wand. The dirt that had been displaced flew back into place, grass re-rooted itself, and new shoots began to sprout in any imperfect places. Jade watched the new blades carefully until she was satisfied with how tall and lush the lawn was.

“End,” Jade said, flicking her wand in a cutting-off motion. All of the light on the lawn flew back into the tip of the wand, and then it went dark.

The lawn was now fully repaired. Indeed, it looked even better than it had before, in Jade’s professional opinion. She nodded to herself as she sheathed her wand in her skirt again

“Good work,” Kanaya said, and Jade blushed, telling herself it wasn’t that big of a deal that Kanaya Maryam just complimented her witchcraft. _But maybe it was a big deal that Kanaya Maryam just complimented her witchcraft._

“Our reputation is restored,” said Rose. “If only the rest of our plants were flourishing so authentically.”

“What?” Jade said, suspiciously looking around at the rest of the garden. Now that she had her human eyes and perceptions back, she could see a few discrepancies in those black roses that were climbing the bench-swing’s trellis. For one thing, some of the blooms seemed to have _moved_ since yesterday.

Oh, no. Could it be? Were Jade’s worst suspicions so?

Kanaya sighed. “We used to have them enchanted to bloom all year round. But the witch who was doing the enchantment –” most likely Jade’s mentor, as there were no other garden witches in Septiportum, “– retired two years ago, so we simply cast illusions over the garden instead. I’m afraid I haven’t a clue what state the actual plants are in.”

Jade’s mouth hung open. She was sure horror was plastered all over her face. They had said the dreaded word: _illusion_. Those poor plants were probably dead under there!

“I – wh –” Jade spluttered.

“It’s all to prevent our business from collapsing due to floral degradation,” Rose said with a straight face. “But –” and here she looked at Kanaya, who nodded, “– if you’d like to remove the illusions and do some work, we’d be happy to pay you for it. Or trade favours, we’re not picky.”

“Yes! Yes, I will save your plants,” Jade said, clasping her hands together. Already, she was putting together a little mental list of the steps she’d have to take to fully restore the yard. First, removing the illusions and assessing the physical conditions of the plants and the states of all the previous magic done to them. Then, developing a plan of action to pare back crusty old spells, restore dying plants with a combination of magic and physical gardening, and replacing dead plants with cuttings from Jade’s pocket dimension greenhouse. Finally, she could set up a roster of permanent and semi-permanent spells, and a schedule for refreshing them...

As Jade was pondering saving this poor garden, Rose had moved closer to Kanaya and was muttering something to her. Jade didn’t even notice until Rose said her name.

“Yes?” Jade said, blinking as she came back to reality. She hoped she hadn’t missed anything important.

“Would you be at all interested in renting our basement apartment? It would solve your little necromancy problem, and we could certainly use a garden witch in our business.”

“Diversifying a little,” Kanaya added.

Jade was surprised again, but this time for a much more fun reason. “Really?” she said, already excited at the thought of being able to spend more time with Rose and Kanaya – um, being able to do her spells in peace. “I can do other things too – I can do dreamworks, and I do have prophetic abilities but of course I would never dream of poaching any of Rose’s customers.” As soon as she said that, she winced, hoping it hadn’t been a bad idea to point out that their abilities overlapped a little.

But Rose just laughed. “It’s quite alright. I have too many people coming in to find out petty nothings as it is. I would be perfectly happy to gift you the excess.”

“And you’re okay with dogs?”

“Oh, certainly, as long as they can behave around cats,” Kanaya said. Jade smiled in relief.

“Of course! Bec is the best boy,” she said. Her familiar was fairly indifferent to cats, but Jade knew he was too well trained to hurt an innocent animal anyway.

“And you’re not squeamish around, erm, large bugs?” Kanaya asked.

Jade already knew that Kanaya’s familiar was a giant grub. “Nope. I’m a gardener,” she said.

“Well then? Should we go back inside and talk business?” Rose said.

“Sure, but... can I use your phone to get some breakfast delivered?” Jade asked sheepishly. Digging up a lawn all night was hungry work.

“Oh, we’ll make you something. You’re our guest,” Kanaya said.

“Neither of us is a great cook, but at least we can manage a pedestrian grilled cheese.”

Rose held open the door for Jade and Kanaya to return to the house. As they made their way to the kitchen so Kanaya could make Jade a sandwich and they could discuss the terms of Jade moving in with them, Jade’s head was spinning with excitement. Alright, she would admit it – she couldn’t wait to spend more time with Rose and Kanaya. They were just so cool! And it would be so fun to work with other witches to solve magical problems and help customers. The future for the three of them was bright, and full of possibility.

**Author's Note:**

> Liked the story? Tell me how I did. Comments always welcome!


End file.
